John Roxburgh, (25 April 1932 – 2 August 1993) was an Australian racing driver, and motor sports administrator. Roxburgh's career was highlighted by taking victory in the original

1960 Armstrong 500 The 1960 Armstrong 500 was an endurance motor race for Australian made or assembled standard production sedans. The event was held at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Victoria, Australia on 20 November 1960 over 167 laps of the 3.0 mile ...

(known later as the

Bathurst 1000 The Bathurst 1000 (formally known as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supercars Championship, the most recen ...

), co-driving a

Vauxhall Cresta The Vauxhall Cresta is a British full-size car which was produced by Vauxhall from 1954 to 1972. The Cresta was introduced in 1954 as an upmarket version of the Vauxhall Velox, itself a six-cylinder version of the Vauxhall Wyvern. The Cresta mo ...

with

Frank Coad Frank Coad (3 September 1930 – November 2021) was an Australian racing driver. Coad's career was highlighted by taking victory in the 1960 Armstrong 500 (the forerunner of the Bathurst 1000), co-driving a Vauxhall Cresta The Vauxhall Cres ...

. Roxburgh continued to race touring cars well into the 1970s, most notably racing for the factory supported

Datsun Datsun (, ) was an automobile brand owned by Nissan. Datsun's original production run began in 1931. From 1958 to 1986, only vehicles exported by Nissan were identified as Datsun. Nissan phased out the Datsun brand in March 1986, but relaunche ...

Racing Team. He won Class A at Bathurst in

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

driving a Datsun 1000 (B10 series), and Class B in

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

in a Datsun 1600 (510 series), co-driving with triple Australian Grand Prix winner

Doug Whiteford Doug Whiteford was an Australian racing driver. Whiteford raced from the mid-1930s through to 1975 with a short period of inactivity during the 1960s.Ray Bell, Vale – Doug Whiteford, Racing Car News, February 1979, page 11 He was best known a ...

on each occasion. Roxburgh also won the

1962 Six Hour Le Mans The 1962 Six Hour Le Mans was an endurance motor race for Sports Cars, Sedans and GT cars. The event was held at the Caversham circuit in Western Australia, Australia on 3 June 1962. There were a total of 31 starters in the race, which was the eig ...

at Caversham in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

driving a

Lotus 15 The Lotus 15 is a front-engine sports racing car designed by Colin Chapman of Lotus, built from 1958 until 1960. Series 1 The 15 is a two-seater, front-engine, rear wheel drive sports racer with an aluminium body over a space frame configuratio ...

with Derek Jolly. In the last years of his driving career, Roxburgh converted to the group B rally championship driving an Audi S1 Quattro, winning 14 rallies of the 1982 season. However, with sudden heart problems driving was not advised by doctors. In light of this, Roxburgh then retired from racing to take up a legislative position at FIA. He later turned to the administration of the sport, serving as CAMS President from 1977 to 1982 and later being an Australian delegate to the

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backst ...

where he also served as a track safety inspector and chairman, famously not passing the street circuit for the inaugural

Wellington 500 The Wellington 500 was a street race for touring cars which took place at Wellington City in Wellington, New Zealand in the 1980s and 1990s. The 1987 event was a round of the 1987 World Touring Car Championship. The final running of the race w ...

in 1985, forcing the organisers to re-write the race regulations to make it a national rather than international race to allow it to proceed. Roxburgh died in 1993, aged 61. He was the first winner of the Bathurst 1000 and its predecessors to die."Death of first Great Race winner" in Normoyle, Steve (Ed.) ''The Great Race 1993/1994 '' (Chevron Publishing, 1993) p. 74.

References

Australian racing drivers Bathurst 1000 winners Tasman Series drivers 1932 births 1993 deaths {{Australia-autoracing-bio-stub